Key RJD meet: Lalu gives a unity call to uproot BJP; Jagda stays away

The show, however, was marred by the absence of Bihar RJD chief and senior party leader Jagdanand Singh, who stayed away from the meet for unspecified reasons.

The crucial two-day meet of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in New Delhi concluded on Monday and party supremo Lalu Prasad, who was elected unopposed as the party’s national president for the 12th time, authorised his younger son and Bihar’s deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav to take decisions on important issues while exhorting party workers to stay united for a larger battle in 2024 uproot the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).

RJD president Lalu Prasad with Bihar deputy chief minister and party leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav during RJD's national executive meeting in New Delhi on Monday. (PTI)

The show, however, was marred by the absence of Bihar RJD chief and senior party leader Jagdanand Singh, who stayed away from the meet for unspecified reasons.

On Sunday, Lalu Prasad’s elder son and environment minister Tej Pratap Yadav had stormed out of the meet, alleging use of foul language against him by Shyam Razak, another senior party leader.

In his characteristic style visible after a long time, Prasad attacked the BJP government at the Centre, saying they would get tired with raids by Enforcement Directorate (ED), CBI and income tax. “We are not going to be cowed down by all this. We will stay united to uproot the BJP government, which has communalised everything, while the people are looking for answers to key issues like corruption, rising prices and unemployment. The people have understood the BJP game plan and therefore, all the parties, including the Congress, need to come under one umbrella,” he said.

“The country will not forgive those who stay away from the united front. Every time we try to rise, they start using CBI, ED and income tax to disturb us, but it will not have any impact anymore,” he said.

Coming back to RJD, party leaders said Jagdanand Singh had offered to resign due to a sequence of events, including the way alliance with CM Nitish Kumar’s JD-U was formed without taking him into confidence and the way his son Sudhakar Singh had to resign. Singh has, however, refrained from making any comment on his absence from the crucial party meet. Though his son attended the meet, he said the party spokesman would comment on his father’s absence, which did not happen.

Both Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav refrained from making any comment on Jagdanand Singh’s absence, though the deputy CM said from the dais that it was not possible to keep everyone happy and that he too was not happy with everyone. “But the moot point is to focus on the larger issue and stay united at this crucial hour,” he said.

Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi hit back, saying Narendra Modi was no carrot to be uprooted by the opposition comprising tainted leaders. “He is the mythological Angad, who the Ravan-like Opposition, which is eager to form an unprincipled alliance for selfish gains, will not be able to even budge,” he said.